Operation Saving Daniel (Entangled Covet) (14 page)

“Well that’s too bad,” Lissa said. “Because you’re too late by about fifteen years. And if Daniel is in some sort of trouble, we have to help him.”

Jason pursed his lips. “Why do I suspect, that you’re already aware of the sort of trouble Daniel is in?”

Lissa tried to look innocent, but she’d never been very good at that. The problem was going to be finding a balance—helping Daniel while keeping the rest of their friends and family safe. Maybe she should get Jason alone and away from Julia so she could talk a bit more honestly. Not the werewolf thing. But getting him away from Julia seemed like it would be a problem.

Jason pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “I have to go. I have a meeting but I’m expecting a more complete report on Stone to come through at any moment, and I’ll contact you when I have information. I’m sure you’re not in any immediate danger, but in the meantime”— he gave Lissa a narrow eyed stare— “don’t see Daniel alone. I’m not sure to what extent he’s involved, but believe me, he is involved, and that makes him dangerous.”

More than Jason could ever know. Anyway, she didn’t think Daniel was going to let her see him alone, or otherwise, in the near future. If he had his way, she would never see him again. And that wasn’t an option.

Jason delved into his pocket, drew out a business card, and handed it to her. “The address of my office is on there, maybe you could come in tomorrow morning when I should know more. Call me if you can’t make it.”

Julia got up and followed Jason out of the room. Lissa stayed where she was.

Who was this man Ethan Stone? Was he the one responsible for turning Daniel? She hated him already.

Julia seemed to take a long time to say good-bye. Maybe Lissa should make herself scarce to avoid more awkward questions. Or maybe she should just suck it up and get it over with.

When Julia came back, she had her self-satisfied smile on her face. “Your brother is cute,” she said, pouring herself another cup of coffee. “You want one?”

“No, I think I’m going to try and catch some sleep.”

“Oh no, you don’t. You’re not getting away that easily. Come on, spill the beans, and tell me what happened last night. I know you got that message and went to meet Daniel, but it was really from Sophia.”

“Yeah, you remember she made that threat?”

“The one where she was going to rip your hands from your body if you touched Daniel again?”

“That’s the one. She decided to make good on it.”

“You mean she pretended to be Daniel. That is a little weird.”

“You’re telling me. I thought I was a goner. Honestly, if Daniel hadn’t turned up when he did, I really think she might have done something drastic.”

“So the plan worked? I mean, there’s no way he’ll marry The Evil One now.”

“Maybe.” Lissa wondered whether it was worth mentioning that Sophia might not have survived the encounter. But that would have taken more explanation than she was willing to give.

“Perhaps I should give him a call. Out of sisterly love, and ask what’s going on and what his intentions are with regards to my best friend.”

“Don’t you dare,” Lissa snapped.

“Well, I might be persuaded to hold off if you tell me—or at least give me a little hint—what actually happened last night between you and Daniel.”

“I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you. You’ve always had such a good imagination.”

“And you’re not the sort to kiss and tell.”

“Exactly.”

Chapter Fifteen

Lissa rose to her feet to end the meeting with Julia. She’d told the truth and was dead tired. Sleep was a necessity, along with more time alone to go over what happened, to decide what she wanted to do about Daniel and Sophia and Ethan Stone and Julia and everybody else.

It was strange, she’d always been so afraid of love, of loving and losing. It seemed like she’d spent a whole life running. Even when she’d come back, she hadn’t been ready to face her fears. She’d planned to put Daniel behind her, forget about love, and find a nice, safe relationship where her heart wouldn’t be at risk.

But now there was something to be really frightened about and she wasn’t scared. She was indignant. These people had taken Daniel’s life from him, had remade him into something he should never have been.

“So, you think Sophia will come after you again?” Julia interrupted her thoughts.

“You never know.”

“If she’s that crazy, shouldn’t you go to the police?”

The last thing she wanted was to go to the police. She couldn’t begin to imagine what they might uncover. If Sophia were dead, would there be a body? Sophia had said they were going to eat her. Maybe they had eaten Sophia, instead. Nice.

But not something she could discuss with Julia.

“She probably didn’t mean to really hurt me,” Lissa said. “I mean, no way could she rip off my hands. She was just trying to scare me.”

“She scared me.”

“And she is Daniel’s fiancée. I can hardly hand her over to the police.”

Julia patted her shoulder. “Daniel won’t marry her. Not when he’s seen what she’s like and after you and he… You know…”

“I really, really hope he doesn’t still plan to marry her. Even so, I don’t think he would want her locked up. Which is a pity, because she needs locking up.”

Actually, she was pretty sure Daniel would like Sophia locked up. She’d seen real hatred in his face when he spoke of the other woman last night, and who could blame him. She’d only known Sophia for a few days and she’d had quite enough. It was a wonder Daniel hadn’t gone completely insane after putting up with her for years.

“I’ve told you everything I’m willing to tell you at this time. Now I’m off to bed.” She didn’t wait for Julia to say anything else, just turned around and left the room.

In her bedroom, she stripped off her clothes and crawled under the sheets. Her head had just landed on the pillow when her cell phone went off on the bedside table. She scrambled for it and stared at the caller ID. Daniel. She almost dropped the phone. Instead, she pressed it to her ear as her heart started beating faster. Had something gone wrong?

Then she remembered the last time Daniel had contacted her on this phone, it hadn’t been him. Maybe Sophia was alive and ready to try to tear her hands off again.

Or perhaps Daniel was phoning to make sure she was leaving and had persuaded Julia to go, too. Though she hated to lie to him, she would. For his own good, of course.

She pressed the answer button.

“Lissa?”

“Yes, it’s me. What do you want, Daniel? I thought you said you weren’t going to talk to me again.”

Silence, though she could hear him breathing. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

How could she possibly be okay? “Of course I’m not okay. The man I love told me this morning—after I might add making mad, passionate love to me—that he never wants to see me again.”

“Jesus, Lissa. Do you have to make this so fucking difficult?”

“I’m not the one making it difficult.”

“Why the hell did you even come back? Why couldn’t you stay away?”

Lissa gritted her teeth. “Just why did you call me, Daniel?”

“Because I couldn’t leave it alone. I had to hear your voice.”

What could she say that would make anything better? “I wish you were here,” she said.

“I wish I was there. I wish I was inside you right now, feeling you wrapped around me, tasting you. Christ, what a mess.”

Too right. It was a mess and she could see no way out, but she wasn’t going to say that to Daniel. She had to give him hope. “We can sort it out, Daniel. There has to be a way. I can talk to my brother—”

“I told you, you can’t talk to anyone, especially not someone involved in security.” His tone was harsh and she could hear the desperation behind the words. “Promise me you won’t talk to anyone.”

Too late. But she wouldn’t add to his worries. Once she worked out a plan, which she would, she’d tell him everything.

“I won’t talk to anyone…” Else she added silently.

She heard his sigh of relief. “Good. Thank you. Have you spoken with Julia about going away?”

“Not yet, but it won’t be easy; she’s busy at work right now.”

“Well, try. It will make things much easier if I know you’re both safe.”

“What about Marcy and Debs?”

“They’re still in Spain. They should be fine there.”

“What is going to happen that’s so dangerous?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s going to be bad. Look, I have to go; I couldn’t leave it like we did. I wanted you to know… I love you. I always loved you.”

And he ended the call.

…

He couldn’t stay away. He was like a…werewolf with his mate.

Pathetic.

He’d told himself he wouldn’t see her, but if he were closer to her, it might be easier. And in fact, Wolf had ceased his pacing now that he sensed Lissa was nearby.

Daniel sat in the truck outside her house—had he mentioned pathetic? Both girls were home, which he knew because the private security agency he’d employed to guard them had just reported in.

The place was in darkness at nearly midnight. The surveillance was around the clock, and he’d be informed if she went out or if anyone went in. Her brother had been there earlier. What had he wanted? Maybe Daniel should get the place bugged.

He shook his head in disgust—definitely pathetic.

What he should do was leave. Go get some sleep, clear his mind, so he could think out his next move. He’d booked into a hotel, not wanting to go home in case Ethan came hunting him. But he couldn’t make himself start the truck.

He still didn’t know if Sophia had survived, and he’d had no luck getting hold of Pete or Joe, which worried him as well. But their clothes had been gone this morning, which suggested they were both alive and probably laying low like him.

So…going back to his hotel.

He couldn’t do it. Instead, he called up the security service and told them they weren’t needed for the rest of the night. Minutes later, a dark car pulled away from the side of the road opposite, and Daniel settled down to watch her house.

An hour later, his cell phone rang. It was Joe.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, we’re both fine. Pete needed a little medical assistance, but he’s good—that’s where we’ve been all day and keeping quiet. Is your girl okay?”

“She will be if I can convince her to go away for a while. A long while. What happened to Sophia? Is she coming after me?”

“She’s not coming after anyone. Ever.”

“She’s dead?” He waited to be overcome by guilt but felt nothing. He reckoned he’d done the world a favor.

“You didn’t kill her,” Joe said as if reading his thoughts. “Pete did. You know how much he hated her.”

Daniel couldn’t decide whether he was relieved or upset that he hadn’t been the one to kill Sophia. Yet another sign that he was beyond redemption. “What about the body?”

“There is no body.”

Daniel decided he didn’t want to know any more details. His imagination was doing too good a job on its own.

“Pete might have finished her off, but he could never have done it alone. You took her out. She wasn’t anywhere near a match for you. You’ve been hiding your strength.”

“So?”

“So, we’ve been thinking.”

“About what?”

“Nothing we want to talk on the phone about, but we’d like to meet with you.”

Daniel glanced at the house. “I can’t tonight.”

“Tomorrow will be fine. I’ll phone with a time and a place.”

Sophia was dead and out of the picture. One less thing to worry about. While Ethan might be ruthless, he didn’t do things without a reason. Come to think of it, Sophia always had a reason, too—causing pain.

Perhaps he should tell Lissa to put her mind at rest. He picked up his phone, his finger poised to hit speed dial. Then he put it down again.

It wasn’t the sort of information to give over the phone.

A little voice niggled that this was a bad idea, but Wolf howled through his mind, drowning out the thought.

He climbed out of the car and studied the house. While he wanted to see Lissa, he couldn’t cope with Julia right now, so the front door was out. Daniel headed down a narrow alley at the side of the building, and jumped the fence into the backyard with ease. A low one-story building extended from the rear of the house and he climbed onto this. There were two windows on the first floor, one with opaque glass, presumably the bathroom. The other must be Lissa’s room. Julia’s was at the front.

He gently felt the window. It was locked as he’d expected, but he extended a little inhuman pressure and the lock gave and the window slid up.

He climbed over the ledge and jumped down into the room. Something crashed into his head and he went down to his knees.

Okay, maybe he should have phoned first.

…

Oh my God, I’ve killed Daniel.

Lissa stared at the man on the floor. He was a werewolf. Shouldn’t he be harder to kill than that?

She’d almost dismissed the noise outside as the next-door neighbor’s cat—it seemed too quiet to be a human. But her mind had filled with visions of Sophia coming after her.

Anyway, she wasn’t going to risk waiting for The Evil One to return from the dead and make good on her threats. So she’d crept out of bed, found the heaviest item in the room—an earthenware jug Julia had brought back from one of her visits to Africa—hidden behind the curtain, and swung the jug as hard as she could. It had made a wonderfully satisfying
thunk
as it connected. She hoped Julia wasn’t too fond of the jug, because the handle was still clutched tight in Lissa’s clenched fingers while the rest was scattered in terra-cotta shards around Daniel’s head.

Daniel lay still at her feet. He’d told her he loved her and she’d killed him. She willed him to move and his eyes flickered open. He winced but didn’t get up.

“Are you going to check to see if I’m still alive or just stand there staring at me?”

“Or maybe I’ll finish the job,” she said brandishing the jug handle. “What the hell did you think you were doing? I thought you were Sophia come back to rip me into little pieces and eat me.”

“You should have known it might be me.”

“Well, excuse me, but you were the one who said that we weren’t ever going to see each other again. So when someone creeps into my bedroom in the middle of the night—when there’s a perfectly good front door—you’re the last person I expect it to be.”

“I thought I should check on you in person,” he said. “You sounded a little off on the phone.”

“Of course I sounded a little off. I’d had a stressful night. I’d nearly died. I’d just found out you’re a freaking werewolf. I’m more than a little off. I’m totally off.”
And you love me. You’ve always loved me.
She willed him to say the words he’d spoken on the phone.

Instead, he frowned. “Shhh, Julia will hear.”

“Maybe I want Julia to hear. Maybe I want her to come and take her maniac brother away.”

“I’m not a maniac,” he said.

“No, you’re a werewolf.”

“Yeah, I am.”

He sounded strangely defeated, and she wanted to hug him and make it better. But she guessed being a werewolf wasn’t something you could heal with a hug and a few kind words.

“Why did you really come?” she asked.

“Because I couldn’t stay away.”

That was almost as good as “I love you.” She held out her hand to him, but he shook his head. “If I touch you, I won’t be able to stop.”

That sounded fine to her, but she stepped back and allowed him to get to his feet. He brushed bits of pottery from his faded jeans and white shirt. In the casual clothes, she caught glimpses of the old Daniel.

“And I wanted to tell you that Sophia is dead,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

Lissa almost sagged as the words hit her brain. She’d never before wanted anyone to die; Sophia was a first. She bit her lip and studied Daniel, searching for some emotion. Even if they had never been lovers, they had known each other a long time, and Sophia had obviously felt something for him or she wouldn’t have been so jealous. Lissa searched for something kind to say but settled on the truth. “Maybe I should feel bad. But I don’t. All I feel is relief.”

“There’s no reason to feel bad. She was a monster. So am I.”

“Don’t be so melodramatic. You’re not a monster. You were kind of fluffy and cute and…” When he didn’t appear convinced she decided to change the subject. “You’ve got blood on your shirt.” She pointed at his chest and he glanced down. The scarlet of fresh blood stained the white cotton. He must have cut himself on the shards of broken pottery that littered the floor.

“So I have. I’d better take it off.” He slowly undid the buttons, his eyes never leaving hers. Her mouth went dry as he shrugged out of the shirt, dropping it casually on the floor.

The jeans hung low on his hips; his skin was tanned golden smooth over the swell of muscle with a line of dark blond hair disappearing into the waistband of his pants. Her fingers itched with the need to see if that hair was as silky-soft as it looked. Their lovemaking that morning had been so urgent she hadn’t taken in the details, now she wanted to touch him everywhere, feel the texture of his skin…taste him.

Out in the forest he hadn’t seemed quite so large; here in the enclosed space of her bedroom, he appeared huge, his big body lean and hard. Without giving herself a chance to back out, she slipped her T-shirt over her head to stand before him naked.